Garment bag frame construction



May 29, 1951 B. CORWIN r 2,554,483

GARMENT BAG FRAME CONSTRUCTION Filed March 22, 1948 BERNARD C 0/? W/N (ZL IJ/uuM/L ATTORNEY Patented May 29-, 1951 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE 2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to garment bag frames, and more particularly to clothes hanger supports which are connected thereto.

Frames and supports of this general character are well known to the art and their general features and method of use are matters of common knowledge. The improvements which form the subject matter of the present application relate primarily to structure rather than function, and the principal object of the present invention is to provide a frame structure which is usable singly or in multiple units. In conventional frames of this character clothes hanger supports of different sizes are provided in connection with garment bag frames of corresponding sizes. Hence, a smaller frame requires the use of a small clothes hanger support and a larger frame necessitates the use of a correspondingly dimensioned clothes hanger support. In the present invention a small clothes hanger support is provided, which may be used in connection with a garment bag frame of corresponding size. It may also be used in multiple units in larger garment bags, and means is provided for clamping the several parts together to make for a rigid structure.

Another important object of this invention is the provision of a clothes hanger support for garment bags, which extends across the full width of the bag and enables the user to make full use of the entire width of the bag.

Preferred embodiments of this invention are 7 shown in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a multiple unit clothes hanger support, showing how it is connected to a large garment bag frame, said clothes hanger support being shown in operative position within a frame;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a single unit clothes hanger support connected to a small garment bag frame, the clothes hanger support being shown in folded position against the frame;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the clothes hanger support and garment bag frame shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line 4- of Fig. 2, the clothes hanger support and the garment bag frame hooks being shown in perative position; and

Fig. is an enlarged perspective view of the clamping means by which adjoining clothes hanger supports may be clamped together to form a multiple unit.

Reference to Figs. 2, 3, and 4 will show that the garment bag frame II] comprises a length of stiff wire bent at four points to form a rec- 2 tangle. The wire is bent at two sides of the rectangle to accommodate a pair of loops formed at the ends of supporting bar |2. It is this supporting bar which extends transversely of the rectangular frame In that is connected to the hooks [3 by which the garment bag may be suspended from a closet rod. This transverse rod I2 is also the means which carries the clothes hanger support I which support, like bar l2, extends transversely of the rectangular frame It]. Bar l2 has a plurality of bends formed in it to accommodate a corresponding number of collars i5 which are rotatably mounted on said bends and which constitute the means by which the hooks l3 may be connected to the rod l2. Since collars I5 are rotatably mounted on the bends of rod 2, the hooks l3 will be similarly endowed with the ability to engage in pivotal movement relative to said rod I2. This can be seen in Figs. 3 and 4. In 3 the hook memhers I 3 lie substantially parallel to the broad plane of frame i ll, whereas in Fig. 4 they extend perpendicularly thereto. The bends in rod i2 serve an added function of keeping hooks I3 properly spaced with respect to each other.

Clothes hanger support I4 is provided with eyes 26 which embrace rod l2 adjacent the loop ends I! of said rod. It is by means of these eyes 26 that the clothes hanger support l4 may itself be supported by rod l2. It will be noted in Figs. 3 and 4 that by means of these eyes 20 the clothes hanger support I4 is enabled to pivot on rod l2, either into operative position, as shown in Fig. 4, or into inoperative position, as shown in Fig. 3.

Note should be taken of the fact that clothes hanger support I4 is also provided with end loops or bends 2|. These loops extend outwardly until they become aligned with the side frame members of the rectangular garment bag frame. These loops 2| serve the same function as loops or bends 22 in the clothes hanger support. Each loop or bend accommodates a separate clothes hanger and the capacity of the clothes hanger support may ordinarily be determined by the number of loops which are formed in it. It is the end loops 2| which provide the clothes hanger support M with room for two more clothes hangers than conventional clothes hanger supports are adapted to carry.

End loops 2| also perform another important function. It will be seen in Figs. 1 and 5 that in the larger garment bag frame 30, a correspondingly large transverse rod member 3| carries a pair of clothes hanger supports l4. These two clothes hanger supports are linked together at their adjacent end loops 31 by means of link member 32. It will be seen in said Figs. 1 and that .by reason of the fact that loops 21 extend outwardly from eyes 20 rather than immediately below them, these loops 2| are enabled to meet in the center of garment bag frame 30 and there to be clamped together by means of link 32. Hence, although the adjacent eyes 20 of the two clothes hanger supports [4, shown in Fig. 1, are spaced from each other to accommodate a hanger I3, the corresponding loops 2! of said pair of clothes hanger supports are immediately adjacent each other so that a simple type of link 32 may be used to clamp them together and thereby to make a multiple unit out of a pair of individual units.

The invention herein claimed and shown in the drawing may be incorporated into many difierent embodiments, each different from the rest in certain respects. For example, the embodiment of this invention shown in Fig. 2 differs from that shown in Fig. 1, in that a single unit clothes hanger support appears in the embodimentof Fig. 2 and a two-unit clothes hanger support appears in the embodiment of Fig. 1. It will be clearly understood that a three-unit support may be incorporated into a still larger garment bag frame by the same means with which the twounit support is incorporated into the frame shown in Fig. 1. Instead of using a single link to join up two clothes hanger supports, two links would be used to connect the three clothes hanger supports to each other.

The precise form which the clothes hanger support takes, as shown in the drawing, is not critical except insofar as it constitutes a substantially corrugated member whose ends are looped back upon themselves and then upwardly to form another pair of loops which engage the rod [2 or 3| as the case may be. Whether the corrugations number seven as is the case with the clothes hanger support shown in Fig. 4 or a greater or a lesser number is wholly immaterial. Whether this clothes hanger support is made of 'wire' or bent rod, whether of metal or plastics are also immaterial matters.

I claim: A I 1. In a rectangular garment bag frame having ends, a transverse rod rigidly secured intermediate the ends of the frame, a plurality of clothes hanger supports depending in tandem from said transverse rod, each said support comprising a corrugated wire whose ends are bent back upon themselves to form end loops and then upwardly to form a pair of eyes, said eyes loosely embracing the transverse rod to pivotally suspend the clothes hanger support therefrom, said pair of loops extending longitudinally of said support beyond said eyes and being adapted to accommodate a plurality of garment hangers, adjacent end loops of said supports being fastened to each other by a link member embracing said adjacent loops to unite said supports into one integral structure.

A garment bag frame comprising a, rectangular frame member, a transverse rod rigidly connected thereto, a plurality of hooks pivotally connected to said rod at spaced locations thereon and a plurality of clothes hanger supports pivotally suspended from said rod, said clothes hanger supports being provided with outwardly extending end loops which extend beyond the pivotal points at which said clothes hanger supports are connected to the transverse rod, said supports being also fastened to each other at their adjacent end loops by a link member.

BERNARD CORWIN.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 500,879 Frankel July 4, 1893 1,610,967 Ringel Jan. 26, 1925 1,886,574 Normandy Nov. 8, 1932 2,052,932 London Sept. 1, 1936 2,159,959 Ballentine May 30, 1939 2,350,901 Johnston June 6, 1944 2,442,364 Kraft June 1, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 189,564 Great Britain Dec. 7, 1922 

